The
Fleet Air Arm in the United States of America (USA)

HMS Saker, RN & USN Naval Base Brunswick (Maine),
USA in WW2

During the expansion of the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm
in World War 2, many units formed in the United States, where they took
delivery of American naval aircraft under the Lend-Lease aid programme to the
British Empire. Fleet Air Arm and United States Navy aircraft flew side by
side on combat missions over enemy territory and the Royal Navy and US Navy
operated together in the Coral Seas, Indian Ocean, Pacific, Mediterranean and
Atlantic. Royal Navy crews manned escort carriers built in the US and given to the UK by the American Government under Lend-Lease.

The
Fleet Air Arm accounting base in the USA was at WashingtonDC, and it was commissioned in the Royal Navy as
HMS Saker on 1 October 1941, finally being payed off in 1948. The US Navy base at Lewiston, Maine was commissioned under HMS Saker in 1943, and acted as
the parent ship for all Fleet Air Arm facilities in the USA until payed off 1945.

Combined U.S.N. Battle Group of HMS Victorious
(foreground) renamed as USS Robin and USS Saratoga, at Noumea,
New Caledonia, 1943

812 sqdn operated from USS Wasp in convoy from Gibraltar
to UK, Force
W of the Home Fleet, April 1942. President, Franklin D Roosevelt had earlier
agreed to loan to the Royal Navy the carrier USS Wasp and her crew for a
short period for ferry duties. On 15
September 1942 Wasp was sunk in the Pacific.

established on 15 March 15, 1943 when the Southwest
Pacific Force was renamed.

In May, 1943, Saratoga
was joined by H.M.S. Victorious-first British carrier to arrive in the
Pacific theater, as part of the US Pacific 7th Fleet, Task Force
14. This pleasant association was continued throught June and July with
an impressive array of battleships, cruisers and destroyers
supplementing the two carriers in patrol operations in enemy territory.

When the Victorious left for a British port in late July, Sara left Noumea
and proceeded to Espiritu
Santo, via Efate. Air Group Twelve
replaced Air Group Three, and Captain Henry M. Mullinix, who had been
promoted to Rear Admiral, was releved of command by Captiain John H. Cassady.

The BPF effort had extended to nearly 8,000 aircraft
sorties with the loss in action of 85 aircraft Half that number
again were lost to kamikaze strikes.

As TF 57, the BPF was commanded by Vice
Admiral Rawlings under the overall direction of the American
Commander-in-Chief Pacific, Admiral Nimitz, but
serving as an element of Admiral Spruance's 5th Fleet. The BPF was centered on
four fleet carriers and a couple
of modern battleships and was supported also by six CVEs its main strength
equating roughly to a task group
within the US
task force.

5th Fleet and the British Pacific Fleet Task Force 38
(May 1945-

Restyled TF 37 the BPF joined Admiral McCain's TF 38.
which itself had eight fleet and six light carriers )or the final assault
against the Japanese homeland. This occupied the last month of the war with
continuous activity against a still-lively enemy who, fortunately, had
apparently run out of kamikazes.

U.S.
Naval Air Stations for front line squadrons working up to operational status

Evidence of the Royal Navy in Pensacola is still very apparent including the
Royal Navy Redoubt (San Carlos de Barrancas), Fort Barrancas, and Battery San
Antonio, built 1797-1859, Gulf Islands National Seashore, Pensacola Naval Air
Station.In 1781 the Battle for Pensacola is considered to be one of the
important Revolutionary War battles. The British relinquished Pensacola
to the Spanish. The USN selected the site of Pensacola
bay for the Navy in 1826, and the Pensacola Navy Yard became one of the best
equipped naval stations in the country.

In October 1913, Secretary of the Navy, Josephus Daniels, appointed a
board, with Capt. Chambers as chairman, to make a survey of aeronautical
needs and to establish a policy to guide future development. One of the board’s
most important recommendations was the establishment of an aviation training
station in Pensacola.
Upon entry into World War I, Pensacola,
still the only naval air station, had 38 naval aviators, 163 enlisted men
trained in aviation, and 54 airplanes.

During World War II, the number of pilots trained at NAS Pensacola reached
its peak. In 1944, over 12,000 men completed the extensive training and flew
a combined total of almost 2 million hours. About 4,000 pilots from Britain
and British Commonwealth countries who trained at Pensacola
during the war, including Royal Navy and Commonwealth naval aviation
personnel.The first British group was in 1941 before the United
States entered the war. Their first
aircraft included 20 hours on Vultee and then on to the Harvard (SNJ) for
another 200 hours. Advanced training continued with several losses to
collisions and accidents.

After receiving their Wings, Air training of crews then included at the
Grosse Isle USN air training station in Detriot Michigan,
with flight instructions of around 12 hours in the biplane primary trainer
Spartan NP-1, before going on to the Stearman. Some of the classes then were
sent to PensacolaFlorida,
and to MiamiFlorida
for advanced training. From Miami
they traveled to LewistonMaine.
From Lewiston they move to BrunswickCanada. Here
they would finally meet with the aircraft that will take them through the
war, the F4U Corsair or other US
aircraft, the Avenger, Hellcat, Wildcat. In 1942 the US
navy had both the F6F Hellcat and the F4U Corsair in production, Final deck
landing practice took place in Chesapeake Bay off Norfolk,
Virginia on the USS Charger. Then the
squadrons were shipped out by escort carrier to the UK
and worldwide.